Tripura Assembly Elections 2018

The Election Commission announced that electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPAT will be used on all the seats. The poll panel has also said that the maximum expenditure allowed to a candidate will be Rs 20 lakh.

The Tripura Assembly has a total of 60 constituencies/seats out of which 10 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 20 for Scheduled Tribes. The state has a total of 25,69,216 voters. The number of polling stations in Tripura have been increased from 3041 to 3214. The Election Commission has announced that there will be one all-women operated polling booth in Tripura.

Voter slips bearing the photo of the electors will be distributed at least seven days before the polling. The state has covered hundred per cent of the electorate with photo identity card (EPIC).

Tripura is currently the bastion of Left parties. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Indian National Congress (INC) are the main political parties in the state. Manik Sarkar of the CPI(M) has been the Chief Minister of the state since 1998.

The Left Front, an alliance consisting of CPI (M), CPI, Forward Block and Revolutionary Socialist Party, has been in power in the state of Tripura since 1978, except for 1988 when the Congress formed the government.

The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to make a dent in the Left vote bank. BJP has been aligning with regional tribal parties to take on the Left.

The BJP was in talks with Tripura’s main tribal based party, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) held a series of meetings in New Delhi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and other BJP leaders.

The previous Tripura Assembly Elections were held in a single phase in February 2013. The CPI (M) won 49 out of the 60 assembly seats. The CPI won only 1 seat. The Congress won 10 seats. The term of the current Tripura Assembly ends on March 14.

Earlier in a major announcement, the EC had announced that “three dozen” apps will be launched ahead of the assembly polls to bring in ease to all the stakeholders.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Tapas Ray said all the 19 expenditure observers have arrived in the state to examine the expenses incurred by the political parties.

Altogether 300 companies of security forces would be deployed in the poll-bound state for smooth conduct of the elections.

Seventy-five companies (approximately 7,500 personnel) of the central forces have already been deployed in different parts of the state, he said.

Three static surveillance teams comprising a magistrate, a police officer, an income tax officer and an excise and duties officer would be working in each constituency to keep a watch on illegal distribution of liquor, money and other illegal activities on or before the elections.